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Tiffany Steffek, dubbed the 2017 Kolache Fest Queen, has been going to the annual Hallettsville Kolache Fest every year for the past ten years. She said she began making kolaches after watching her grandmother-in-law bake the traditional Czech pastry.

Here’s her kolache recipe:

Dough Ingredients

3 tbsp yeast

3 tbsp sugar

1 stick butter

8 cups flour

3 egg yolks

¼ cup warm water

2 cups milk

Topping Ingredients

½ cup sugar

¼ cup flour

⅓ cup butter

Instructions

–In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar and warm water. Let proof.

–While dough is proofing, warm 2 cups of milk in a pot until steaming. Once steaming, add stick of butter to cool the milk. Once it’s cooled, gently stir in egg yolks.

–Pour more sugar and 1 or 2 cups of flour into the yeast mixture. Add warm liquid mixture to yeast, stirring slowly. Begin beating the dough slowly, adding flour one cup at a time until you have added about six or seven cups to form a ball. Place cloth over bowl and let sit in a warm place for 20-30 minutes.

–After the dough has doubled in size, knead it a little bit with flour. Then, cut off chunks about 1.2 oz – 1.5 oz in size and roll them into little balls. Place balls on a greased cookie sheet and let them rise again for another 10 minutes.

–Add fruit of choice to top of balls, and sprinkling generously with topping, which should be mixed until it has a granular texture.

–Place cookie sheet into oven for 25-35 minutes. Pull out once the kolaches have a nice brown, then brush them with melted butter.